"As well as being able to test David Raya, Athletic Club should be able to break the stubborn backline of Arsenal, as a side that are incredibly strong at home. Athletic Club have failed to score in just one of their La Liga games so far this season, which was last time out against Deportivo Alaves. 

Athletic Club won 11 of their 19 home games last season and scored 32 goals across those fixtures (1.68 per game). Arsenal have kept three clean sheets from their four Premier League matches to start the season, but this is likely to be their toughest assignment so far, with fatigue also starting to be a factor from this point in the season onwards. 

Athletic Club will have to make the most of the opportunities they have in their home games during the league phase of the Champions League, their away games are against Dortmund, Atalanta, Newcastle and Slavia Prague, so it’s important that they carry a threat in their home matches."

"Tottenham's 3-0 win over West Ham last time out will have lifted spirits again, but their performance at home against Bournemouth before the international break highlighted some of the issues that Spurs may face this season.

Tottenham aren’t blessed with the same depth that some of their other Premier League rivals can boast, and won’t be given the luxury of rotating as often in the Champions League. This will lead to fatigue and potentially a few end-to-end games as players tire in the latter stages.

Villarreal have scored eight goals across their four La Liga matches this season (2.0 per game). Only Barcelona (45) picked up more points than Villarreal (36) on the road in La Liga last season, with Villarreal scoring 28 goals across these 19 matches (1.47 per game). 

Tottenham will be encouraged by the fact that Villarreal did concede 24 goals across these games, so there is certainly scope for both sides to find the back of the net in gameweek one of the league phase of the Champions League. I expect there to be a few goals in this one, with both teams potentially contributing to the scoreline."

"I’m still not fully convinced about the structure of Liverpool’s backline. We saw Arne Slot take off Kerkez in the first half against Burnley after a disastrous performance from the left back in which he was almost sent off. 

Slot was seen having a stern word with Kerkez as he took him off the pitch which suggests that this isn’t the first time that Kerkez has been spoken to about his aggression and positioning.

It’s not just Kerkez either, Konate and Van Dijk have looked exposed in every game so far apart from their 1-0 win over Arsenal where the Gunners didn’t really go at them to take advantage of the gaps that Liverpool leave at the back. 

Diego Simeone has the tactical nous to recognise this and should set up his side to target the fullback channels which is where all the space is when Liverpool bomb forward. 

Atletico Madrid have scored in all four of their LaLiga games this season and scored 20 goals across their eight league phase matches in the Champions League last season, leading them to a fifth placed finish."

"I don’t trust the Bayern Munich backline at all. They may look solid in the Bundesliga, but they were regularly caught out in the Champions League last season.

Bayern’s back four on paper at the moment reads Stanisic, Tah, Upamecano, and Laimer - I’m not quite sure how Bayern have ended up in this position with the money and pedigree they have as a club, but this is not a back four that fills you with confidence.

Chelsea have scored two or more goals in each of their last three Premier League matches. Chelsea’s main issues when it comes to scoring goals usually crop up when the Blues face a low block.

Bayern won’t play like that here; they’ll take risks and push up the pitch, which will give Chelsea chances. Chelsea have only failed to score once across their last 16 matches in all competitions (v Crystal Palace).

Bayern conceded 12 goals across their eight matches in the league phase of the Champions League last season. They only managed to keep clean sheets in two of these matches, which is a good example of the issues that Bayern may face in trying to keep Chelsea out here."

"I struggle to see many sides stopping Barcelona from scoring at least two goals in the majority of their games this season. Their scoring power is relentless and they’ve already shown that a few times this season with their 6-0 win over Valencia last time out being particularly impressive.

Barcelona have scored 2+ goals in three of their four LaLiga matches this season. Only Rayo Vallecano stopped Barcelona from scoring twice in the early stages of this season and I do think Newcastle will struggle to contain the pressure that this Barcelona frontline puts on opposition backlines.

Barcelona scored 102 goals across their 38 matches in LaLiga last season (2.68 per game). 50 of these goals came across their 19 away matches (2.63 per game) so they are just as proficient on the road as they are when being the home side."

"Napoli saw BTTS last time out as they ran out 3-1 winners over Fiorentina to take their early season form to three wins from three matches. They’ve scored six goals across these games and that goal they conceded against Fiorentina was the first they’ve let in this season, though I expect that to change here.

Manchester City have scored eight goals across their opening four Premier League matches this season but have only managed to keep two clean sheets - against two sides that have started the season really poorly in Manchester United and Wolves.

Napoli will test Manchester City’s backline a lot more regularly with the likes of De Bruyne, McTominay and Hojlund. I’m still not convinced that Manchester City’s backline is rock solid and I still also still anticipate a bit of a bedding in process for Donnarumma which could lead to some mistakes at the back for the Cityzens."